Oversight Hearing on Clemency and the Office of the Pardon Attorney
May 27, 2022
William Underwood
Senior Fellow William "Bill" Underwood testified before the House Judiciary Committee about the need for Congress to provide more opportunities for second chances for people serving extreme sentences.
Senior Fellow William “Bill” Underwood testified before the House Judiciary Committee about the need for Congress to provide more opportunities for second chances for people serving extreme sentences. Underwood highlighted his own experiences in the criminal justice system and emphasized the need for Congress to pass legislation to allow more people a chance at release. He noted the importance of passing The First Step Implementation Act and The Covid-19 Safer Detention Act, which would bring many people home by expanding eligibility for compassionate release to the oldest people in federal prisons and applying retroactive sentencing reforms enacted under the First Step Act.
The Sentencing Project, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Penal Reform International submitted a request to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for a thematic hearing on life imprisonment in the Organization of American States (OAS) region.
Twenty-one states partially closed or fully closed at least one correctional facility since 2000, resulting in a trend of prison repurposing in which old prisons are converted for community and commercial use.
